Posted on by ggreen

Teuscher Would Make Slaves Of Us All

Update: Email your Utah House Representative ahead of Monday, January 27 here: https://myuea.org/advocating-for-change/action-center/take-action/email-your-utah-house-representative-now

Jordan Teuscher is back with the introduction of HB267 Public Sector Labor Union Amendments, with added provisions that effectively destroy public employee unions in Utah. Key language of the bill takes away collective bargaining rights, which is a fundamental characteristic of a union. He repeatedly submits bills attempting to dismantle worker rights, and he consistently targets our public employees every time.

Among other things, the 2025 bill language seeks to:

  • End collective bargaining – prohibits a public employer from recognizing a labor organization as a bargaining agent for public employees; and prohibits a public employer from entering into collective bargaining contracts. Because public employees are not covered by the National Labor Relations Act, Teuscher is targeting them.
  • Prohibit the use of public property – (think schools, parks, libraries, community centers, and the public employee workspace) for groups conducting union organizing or administration. For example, if teachers wanted to meet in the library at the end of the day to discuss topics that might include information about their UEA membership, they would not be allowed to do so.
  • Mandate reporting to the Labor Commission – (assumed the Utah Labor Commission although this is not defined in the bill) there is direct concern about why the labor commission would need any financial accounting or member count of a legally separate entity. The public employer could certainly provide information to the Labor Commission on the number of members with payroll deduction of dues, but members who pay directly and choose to remain anonymous should be allowed to do so without fear of retribution. Similarly, the amounts of spend by a labor organization for representation, lobbying, donations, activities, or giving should not require disclosure to the Labor Commission. The members are the stakeholders of the labor organization, not the Labor Commission.
  • Kills Retirement for Some Public Employees by forcing former public employees who were previously part of the Utah Retirement System to exit that system if they are later employed by a labor organization
  • Introduces ambiguous definition of “Political purposes” that can be broadly interpreted as any literally any conversation or action if it results in a decision or action. See lines 124-127 of Chapter 32, Part 1, Section 101(4).
  • Authorize the Utah State Attorney General to pursue compliance through civil actions if they fail to prohibit public employers from collective bargaining (although no mechanism of reporting a dispute is provided.) See lines 274-275 of Chapter 32, Part 3, Section 301(2).

Unions are one of the most important tools to address the disparity of wealth distribution, and a legitimate tool to manage the welfare and way of life for Utahns.  Teuscher has submitted bills in past legislative sessions that work against worker rights. We are facing anti-union actions from a national level to degrade unions in Utah. Groups like ‘Workers for Opportunity’ and ‘Mackinac Center for Public Policy’ are engaging with conservative legislators to introduce legislation veiled as “worker freedom”, but in reality represent a furthering of “right-to-work” policies that weaken labor laws and tear down worker rights. Teuscher is a copy/paste legislator introducing right-wing legislation from ALEC that was also run in Texas and Florida. He’s doing the same thing working with the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) whose focus is to push, repackage and franchise conservative agendas. He literally takes his cues from national right-wing think tanks rather than representing the people of Utah.  

This is the third attempt by Jordan Teuscher to push this form of union-busting bill through the legislature.

Each year that Teuscher introduced legislation to actively dismantle worker rights for public employees, it has been killed due to overwhelming opposition from the public.

A patent lie:

“Businesses have to make a profit or they go out of business. Government never goes out of business,” he said. “Because of that inherent obstacle with public sector collective bargaining, it really doesn’t make sense to continue to do it in our state.” – Rep. Jordan Teuscher, Fox 13 interview (Jan 22, 2025)

To suggest that public employees are tapping an unlimited resource of payroll funding simply because they work for a government entity is ridiculous. The ability to negotiate, (including collective bargaining) for a prevailing wage, let alone any wage, is material to any employee regardless of their employer or the industry that they work in.

Teuscher is an acolyte of the legislative supermajority. He is a primary sponsor of copy/paste legislation that works against the freedoms of Utah voters, including attacks on worker rights. We need to unseat people like him and fill those seats with candidates who will defend our rights and keep us free of the kind of government interference that we are seeing.

Reference

Reference Legislation

Updates

Feb 13, 2025 Letter published in the Salt Lake Tribune
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/letters/2025/02/13/letter-rep-teuscher-is-boot-neck/